As I opened NBC News, I wearily wondered if finding a profile story to critique would be a difficult endeavor. I was pleasantly surprised. The dominant story on NBC News's website was an enormous profile package of the NBA superstar Michael Jordan, who turns 50 on Sunday, Feb. 17.
I did take another 15 minutes searching the site for other profiles. As stated in my previous post, I'm not a big sports guy. If I continue to post about sports, someone might think I actually care.
But, no, there was nothing. I guess NBC has enough timely content to keep its reporters busy from profiling each other. So, being the incredibly positive person that I am, I opened the links to the Jordan profile, sighed heavily and began reading.
NBC included a 740-word profile of the athlete's career, a story listing his top 50-point games and a full slide-show of 67 photos highlighting the best moments of his public life. I was surprised to see that NBC did not include any video compilation of Jordan, which would be more effective in bringing people onto the website.
As for the quality of the profile, I would say it was detailed but extremely basic and dry. The story would have been better served if its lede was anecdotal. Instead, it starts off with a bland "There were fierce competitors in the NBA long before Michael Jordan ever stepped on a court." Great. Why would I want to continue to read this story? There are no personal details pulling me into the story that is Jordan's life. Plus, there's a glaring typo in the first paragraph (a missing semicolon or period), which made me reread the sentence a couple of times.
If you are diligent enough to get past the terrible opening, you are immersed in a complex comparison between Jordan and the great basketball players who followed him. The story included a handful of quotes from a single source who wrote a biography about the athlete. The profile concludes mawkishly with "It was Jordan who changed all of that. That is just part of his legacy."
I'm sure I would have enjoyed this profile a lot more if I cared about it more in the first place. But I didn't. Therefore, I wish I had not read it. This is the failure of the writer, who should have included some personal storytelling. As NYU filmmaking professor Marco Williams explained in #loweclass, profile stories should almost put the reader in the person's skin.
Williams also made a point that a profile should have a go-forward story. Granted, this is a somewhat short article about a retired basketball athlete, so there aren't very many angles with which a reporter can "go forward." That being said, other than Jordan's birthday, there is no compelling reason for anyone to read the story.
Again, I critique NBC News for its disappointing content. A couple of articles and some photos do not guarantee effective coverage of an event. What's more, why is a birthday the dominant news item on the website? As I have said before, NBC News puts a lot of emphasis on entertainment rather than on newsworthy topics.
I did take another 15 minutes searching the site for other profiles. As stated in my previous post, I'm not a big sports guy. If I continue to post about sports, someone might think I actually care.
But, no, there was nothing. I guess NBC has enough timely content to keep its reporters busy from profiling each other. So, being the incredibly positive person that I am, I opened the links to the Jordan profile, sighed heavily and began reading.
NBC included a 740-word profile of the athlete's career, a story listing his top 50-point games and a full slide-show of 67 photos highlighting the best moments of his public life. I was surprised to see that NBC did not include any video compilation of Jordan, which would be more effective in bringing people onto the website.
As for the quality of the profile, I would say it was detailed but extremely basic and dry. The story would have been better served if its lede was anecdotal. Instead, it starts off with a bland "There were fierce competitors in the NBA long before Michael Jordan ever stepped on a court." Great. Why would I want to continue to read this story? There are no personal details pulling me into the story that is Jordan's life. Plus, there's a glaring typo in the first paragraph (a missing semicolon or period), which made me reread the sentence a couple of times.
If you are diligent enough to get past the terrible opening, you are immersed in a complex comparison between Jordan and the great basketball players who followed him. The story included a handful of quotes from a single source who wrote a biography about the athlete. The profile concludes mawkishly with "It was Jordan who changed all of that. That is just part of his legacy."
I'm sure I would have enjoyed this profile a lot more if I cared about it more in the first place. But I didn't. Therefore, I wish I had not read it. This is the failure of the writer, who should have included some personal storytelling. As NYU filmmaking professor Marco Williams explained in #loweclass, profile stories should almost put the reader in the person's skin.
Williams also made a point that a profile should have a go-forward story. Granted, this is a somewhat short article about a retired basketball athlete, so there aren't very many angles with which a reporter can "go forward." That being said, other than Jordan's birthday, there is no compelling reason for anyone to read the story.
Again, I critique NBC News for its disappointing content. A couple of articles and some photos do not guarantee effective coverage of an event. What's more, why is a birthday the dominant news item on the website? As I have said before, NBC News puts a lot of emphasis on entertainment rather than on newsworthy topics.